Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artwork depicts China’s Tiangong space station.
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency

China’s Shenzhou-20 astronauts are returning to Earth using a non-space debris impacted and fresh ship – the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.

According to the Xinhua state-run news service, the Shenzhou-20 crew is slated to return on Friday aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.

The spaceship will return to the Dongfeng landing site in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Shenzhou-20 crew is seen in this pre-launch image.
(Image credit: China Manned Space Agency)

At the ready

Onboard: Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie with landing zone technical staff at the ready for the touchdown.

The crew’s return was originally scheduled for a November 5 departure from the Chinese space station but was postponed due to a suspected space debris impact on the Shenzhou-20 spaceship.

Work appears underway to launch a Shenzhou-22 spacecraft to replace the debris damaged Shenzhou-20 vessel.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Meanwhile — although not spelled out in detail by space officials — the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft would be launched “at an appropriate time in the future,” according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), likely to be lofted in an uncrewed state to assure that the orbiting Shenzhou-21 crew have a trustworthy route home.